Latest news with #SusanMcGowan
Times
4 days ago
- Health
- Times
Weight-loss jabs linked to five deaths in Scotland
Weight-loss injections have been linked to the deaths of five people in Scotland, while hundreds more report having become ill after using them. The jabs were developed to suppress appetite among obese patients with type 2 diabetes but have become more commonly used as a quick-fix diet aid. Last year a Scottish nurse, Susan McGowan, was the first person in the UK whose death was directly linked to the prescription-only medication. Now, however, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said it has received five reports of fatalities linked to weight-loss jabs north of the border. The watchdog said in March that it had been notified 361 times since January last year of patients in Scotland who have suffered illness after taking the drugs.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE REVEALED: Weight loss injections now linked to FIVE deaths in Scotland
Fat jabs have been linked to the deaths of five people in Scotland, including one reported to watchdogs this year. The prescription-only drugs, originally developed to suppress appetite among obese patients with type 2 diabetes, have become popular as a quick fix for people looking to lose weight. However, health watchdogs have received hundreds of reports from people who have become ill after taking them. In March, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) disclosed it had been notified 361 times since January last year of patients in Scotland who have suffered illness after taking the drugs. MailOnline recently reported that 12 Scots were taken to A&E between April 2023 and August 2024 with complications from weight loss injections in the same health board area where Britain's first fat jab victim died. Now, the watchdog has revealed details of the most serious cases linked to the drugs in Scotland, stating it has received five reports of fatalities. Three reports concerned patients using the medications for weight loss alone while a fourth patient had prescriptions to treat diabetes. Details of the fifth reported fatality were not provided. Nurse Susan McGowan became the first person in the UK whose death was directly linked to a weight-loss jab. She died at Monklands Hospital in Airdrie last September. The 58-year-old suffered organ failure, septic shock and pancreatitis after taking two jabs of 'prescribed tirzepatide', sold under the brand name Mounjaro. Dr Samantha Robson, a GP working in weight management, said it is important not to draw conclusions on the deaths without clear clinical context. She said the drugs can be 'transformational medications when used correctly, for the right patients, with the right support', but added that there are instances of people taking them improperly. She said: 'Many patients are accessing these medications privately—through clinics, prescribers, and worryingly, through unregulated online pharmacies and social media.' Dr Robson is the medical director of Temple Clinic in Aberdeen, which prescribes GLP-1 medications 'under strict medical supervision and with intensive support'. However, she said it is alarmingly easy for people to obtain them without proper assessment, supervision or education. 'I am aware of cases where patients with a history of eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, are lying about their weight and health to access these drugs purely to suppress appetite and further restrict their intake. This is deeply dangerous. 'There are also growing reports of counterfeit medications being sold online—products that may be contaminated, contain no active ingredient, or in some cases may be resold used pens from patients who stopped the medication but are hoping to recoup some cost.' She added: 'These medications are not inherently dangerous — but unsupervised, unregulated use absolutely is. And if we continue to allow them to be used like crash diets in injectable form, the current headlines will be the tip of the iceberg. This is not just a public health issue — it's an ethical one.' MailOnline has previously revealed that black market seizures in Scotland of potentially dangerous weight loss drugs have soared. The MHRA is investigating whether a genetic trait puts some patients at greater risk of side effects. Dr Alison Cave, its chief safety officer, said: 'Patient safety is our top priority and no medicine would be approved unless it met our expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. 'On the basis of the current evidence, the benefits of GLP-1 medicines outweigh the potential risks when used for the licensed indications. The decision to start, continue or stop treatments should be made jointly by patients and their doctor, based on full consideration of the benefits and risks.'
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
How weight-loss jabs like Mounjaro and Ozempic can destroy your pancreas. First the flesh dies... then your organs fail. As they're linked to ten deaths, doctors' urgent warning revealed
When Susan McGowan died after just two injections of Mounjaro she'd bought from an online pharmacist, health officials rushed to reassure the public on the safety of the new generation of weight-loss jabs. The death certificate for the 58-year-old nurse from North Lanarkshire, who died last September, listed acute pancreatitis – inflammation of the pancreas – as one of the immediate causes of death. Her use of Mounjaro (or tirzepatide) was recorded as 'a contributing factor'.
Daily Mail
26-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Revealed: Shocking number of deaths linked to weight loss jabs...as health chiefs issue chilling alert about organ-destroying side effect
More than 100 deaths in Britain have now been linked to blockbuster weight loss jabs, official data shows. Two of the victims were people in their 20s, according to a MailOnline analysis of logs kept by the medicine safety watchdog. Of the 107 fatalities reported by doctors and patients, the vast majority involve slimming jabs approved within the last few years, such as Mounjaro and Ozempic. The findings come as the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)confirmed that at least 10 people in the UK using the injections had died from pancreatitis; a life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas. Officials announced last night that they are now investigating if the condition is more likely to strike some patients with specific genes. It comes just months after the death of 58 year-old Scottish nurse Susan McGowan who suffered multiple organ failure, septic shock and pancreatitis after just two doses of Mounjaro—the so-called 'King Kong' of weight loss jabs. Ms McGowan is currently the only named fatality linked to the jabs in the UK. However, medics have told of a wave young women requiring life-saving A&E treatment after obtaining the drugs privately from online pharmacies. In the majority of these cases, the victims had no weight-related health problems but were using the drugs for cosmetic reasons. Some were not even overweight. Of the 107 deaths recorded by the MHRA the majority were linked to a weight-loss jab called liraglutide, with 37 fatalities since 2010. This drug—sold under the brand Saxenda—works similar to the more famous brands Wegovy and Mounjaro and is approved as a weight loss drug in the UK. The vast majority of fatalities linked to the drug were among the over 50s, though two were recorded in patients in their 20s. Semaglutide—the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy—and tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro, had an equal number of linked fatalities with 30 apiece. However, Mounjaro has reached this total much faster, with 30 reports linking it to deaths in just a year-and-half. Semaglutide has taken five-and-half-years to reach this number of linked fatalities. Mounjaro has been dubbed the 'King Kong' of weight loss jabs due to its potency, helping people lose up to a fifth of their body weight in a year. Twelve other deaths were recorded for similar drugs—collectively known as 'GLP-1' injections—but which are approved solely for use in treating diabetes. Weight loss injections work by mimicking natural appetite suppressing hormones to make people feel fuller, helping them lose weight. All deaths were logged under the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) 'Yellow Card' scheme. The system—set-up in the wake of the 1960s thalidomide scandal—allows officials to track potential adverse reactions to medications approved for use in the UK and spot emerging patterns. Every drug approved for us in the UK has to go through safety trials before being made available to the public. But there is an unavoidable risk that rare reactions or interactions with other illnesses and conditions may have been missed, which is where the Yellow Card system comes in. If a worrying pattern emerges it can lead to drugs' approval being reviewed, having new warnings added to the labels or the medication potentially being taken off the market completely. As anyone can use the system—patients as well as their medics—a death being linked to a specific drug is not proof it was responsible. The MHRA highlights that some reactions—including fatal ones—may simply be coincidence. For example, a patient taking a weight loss jab may experience a fatal heart attack, but the event may have nothing to do with the drug they were taking at the time. Last night the MHRA said it had received more than 560 reports of patients developing an inflamed pancreas from taking GLP-1 injections since they first launched. While these drugs are frequently used for weight management, some like Ozempic are primarily licensed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Of the 10 linked pancreatitis fatalities, five were connected to Mounjaro. Scientists aren't completely clear on why GLP-1 drugs can trigger deadly pancreatitis. However, experts suspect the reaction is caused by how the drugs interact with the pancreas by triggering it to release the hormone insulin, helping to stabilise blood sugars. Scientists say in some cases this may 'overstimulate' cells in the organ—putting excess strain on it—and causing the pancreas to become severely inflamed. The MHRA is now calling for users who are admitted to hospital with pancreatitis to report the side effect to authorities using the regulator's Yellow Card scheme. Healthcare workers can also submit a report on patients' behalf. Such patients will then be contacted by the MHRA to ask them to take part in a new study, to see if they have a gene that makes them at higher risk of pancreatitis while taking the drugs. The ultimate aim is to create a test that will enable medics to find if a patient has these pancreatitis-risk genes before they prescribe the drugs. Patient safety leaflets distributed with Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Saxenda all acknowledge pancreatitis as a potential rare reaction to taking the drug. The main symptom of pancreatitis is severe pain in the stomach that radiates to the back and does not go away. Anyone who experiences this should seek immediate medical help. Ms McGowan—the only named fatality from using weight loss jabs in the UK—took Mounjaro, for a two-week period before her death on September 4 last year. Just days after taking the drug, she started having severe stomach pains and went to A&E at the hospital she worked at, University Hospital Monklands in Airdrie, Scotland. Although her colleagues fought to save her, she died shortly after. Her death certificate listed multiple organ failure, septic shock and pancreatitis as the immediate cause of death but added the prescribed use of tirzepatide as a factor. The MHRA's announcement comes a day after experts issued guidance to GPs to look for two life-threatening conditions that can be triggered by weight loss jabs acute pancreatitis and biliary disease. The advice tells doctors to look for signs of two life-threatening conditions that can be triggered by the drugs—acute pancreatitis and biliary disease. Warnings over the potential side effects of taking weight-loss jabs come just as the Government makes it easier for Britons to take them. From this week patients in England this week will be able Mounjaro, through their family doctor for the first time. The weekly injection will be offered to around 220,000 people over the next three years under the new NHS prescribing rules. Under previous regulations patients could only access Mounjaro on the NHS via a limited number of specialist weight loss clinics ran by the health service. Recent estimates suggest that about 1.5 million people in the UK are taking weight loss jabs, many of which are bought privately due to NHS rationing. Health officials have suggested that they can help to turn the tide on obesity but have stressed they are not a silver bullet and do come with side effects. Most side effects linked to the jabs are gastrointestinal including nausea, constipation and diarrhoea. However, the medical regulator recently warned that Mounjaro may make the oral contraceptive pill less effective in some patients. A spokesperson for Lilly UK, the makers of Mounjaro, reacting to reports of deaths linked to the drug said patient safety is its 'top priority'. They added: 'Regulatory agencies conduct extensive independent assessments of the benefits and risks of every new medicine and Lilly is committed to continually monitoring, evaluating, and reporting safety data.' 'If anyone is experiencing side effects when taking any Lilly medicine, they should talk to their doctor or other healthcare professional.' In the US, nearly 200 deaths have been linked to weight loss jabs.
Daily Mirror
26-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Ten people die after agonising reaction to weight loss jabs
MHRA says users of jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro reported inflamed pancreas - which can cause agonising abdominal pain - before their deaths as a major investigation has been launched A probe has been launched into why ten people died after reporting a severe side effect to weight loss injections. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has launched an investigation after hundreds of users reported problems with their pancreas. The regulator's 'Yellow Card' scheme will now ask anyone who reports pancreatitis after taking the appetite-suppressing jabs to provide a DNA sample. It comes after Government ministers and some health leaders have called for the injections to be more widely available to tackle Britain's obesity epidemic and targeted at areas of high unemployment to help get people back to work. Professor Matt Brown, chief scientific officer of Genomics England, which will also run the study, said: "GLP-1 medicines like Ozempic and Wegovy have been making headlines, but like all medicines there can be a risk of serious side effects. We believe there is real potential to minimise these with many adverse reactions having a genetic cause.' Weight loss jabs slow digestion and reduce appetite by mimicking hormones which regulate hunger and feelings of fullness. They are designed to act like one of these hormones, known as glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). Last year it was reported that Susan McGowan was the first Brit believed to have died after taking weight loss injections. The 58-year-old took two Mounjaro injections before her death in September. Susan's death certificate listed multiple organ failure, septic shock and pancreatitis as the immediate cause. It was believed to be the first confirmed death linked to a GLP-1 injection but it is not known whether her case was reported to the Yellow Card scheme. Pancreatitis is inflammation of the organ located behind the stomach that aids in digestion and blood sugar regulation. It can cause sudden, severe abdominal pain, often radiating to the back. Other symptoms are nausea, vomiting, fever and a rapid heartbeat. The Yellow Card scheme is the way anyone can report to the MHRA if they have had an adverse reaction to a drug. The MHRA data shows: 181 reported cases of acute and chronic pancreatitis linked to Mounjaro. Five of these people died 113 cases of acute and chronic pancreatitis linked to semaglutide - branded as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for obesity - and one person died 116 users of the weight loss jab Saxenda reported having pancreatitis and one died Exenatide, known by its brand names Byetta and Bydureon, was linked to 101 similar reactions after which three died These cases are not confirmed as being caused by the medicines but the person who reported them suspected they were. It comes after data released from the MHRA under Freedom of Information laws found there had been a total of 111 "suspected adverse drug reactions with a fatal outcome" up to May 2025. Responding to a freedom of information request from Chemist + Druggist, the MHRA added: "Underlying or previously undiagnosed illness unrelated to the medicine can also be factors in such reports." However the latest data release focuses on fatal cases where side effects affected the pancreas. Dr Alison Cave, MHRA's chief safety officer, said: "Evidence shows that almost a third of side effects to medicines could be prevented with the introduction of genetic testing, it is predicted that adverse drug reactions could cost the NHS more than £2.2 billion a year in hospital stays alone. Information from the Yellow Card Biobank will help us to better predict those most at risk of adverse reactions - enabling patients across the UK to receive the safest medicine for them, based on their genetic makeup.' When a Yellow Card report is received, the MHRA will contact patients to ask if they would be willing to take part in the study. Patients will be asked to submit more information and a saliva sample which will be assessed to explore whether some people are at a higher risk of acute pancreatitis when taking these medicines due to their genes. GLP-1 agonists can lower blood sugar levels in people living with type 2 diabetes and can also be prescribed to support some people with weight loss. Recent estimates suggest that about 1.5 million people in the UK are taking weight loss jabs, mostly via private prescriptions. Some have reported having to stop taking them due to side effects, particularly nausea. The new study is part of the UK Biobank project which is the biggest of its kind in the world and holds genetic data on half a million Brits. Dr Cave added: "To help us help you, we're asking anyone who has been hospitalised with acute pancreatitis while taking a GLP-1 medicine to report this to us via our Yellow Card scheme. Even if you don't meet the criteria for this phase of the Biobank study, information about your reaction to a medication is always extremely valuable in helping to improve patient safety." It comes after GPs started offering the jab Mounjaro this week with it being prescribed first to those most overweight. Before it was only prescribed to on the NHS to patients already accessing specialist weight management clinics. A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, which manufactures Wegovy and Ozempic, said: 'Patient safety is of the utmost importance to Novo Nordisk. Like all medications, side effects can occur and vary from patient to patient. The known risks and benefits of GLP1 medicines are described in the Summary of Product Characteristics. 'We recommend that patients take these medications only for their approved indications and under the strict supervision of a healthcare professional, who can also advise on potential side effects. 'We continuously collect safety data on our marketed GLP-1 medicines and work closely with the authorities to ensure patient safety. The benefit-risk profile of our GLP-1 medicines remains positive, and we welcome any new research that will improve our understanding of treatments for people living with chronic diseases.' A spokesman for Eli Lilly, which makes Mounjaro, said: 'Patient safety is Lilly's top priority. We take reports regarding patient safety seriously and actively monitor, evaluate, and report safety information for all our medicines. Adverse events should be reported under the MHRA's Yellow Card scheme, but may be caused by other factors, including pre-existing conditions. 'The Mounjaro Patient Information Leaflet warns that inflamed pancreas - acute pancreatitis - is an uncommon side effect which may affect up to one in 100 people. It also advises patients to talk to their doctor or other healthcare professional before using Mounjaro if they have ever had pancreatitis. 'We encourage patients to consult their doctor or other healthcare professional regarding any side effects they may be experiencing and to ensure that they are getting genuine Lilly medicine.' NHS leaders warn jabs are not 'quick fix' Prescribing guidelines state that weight loss injections should be part of a comprehensive weight management plan including tailored diet and exercise advice. Side effects - particularly nausea and stomach cramps - can mean people stop taking the jabs. Some also find they can no longer afford the private prescriptions. The injections can see users lose around a fifth of their body weight but, crucially, this includes muscle as well as fat. Without drastic lifestyle changes research shows people pile fat back on a year after they stop taking the injections - but not the muscle. This makes it harder for them to lose weight again in future as they have less muscle to burn calories. Anyone considering the injections should consult their GP.
